Economic Approaches to Public and Private Land Conservation in the United States

Economic Approaches to Public and Private Land Conservation in the United States PDF Author: Amy Claire Hudnor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Land trusts
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description

Economic Approaches to Public and Private Land Conservation in the United States

Economic Approaches to Public and Private Land Conservation in the United States PDF Author: Amy Claire Hudnor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Land trusts
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description


Public Lands And The U.s. Economy

Public Lands And The U.s. Economy PDF Author: George M Johnston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000308634
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Current law requires the federal government to fulfill a broad spectrum of responsibilities in managing public lands; to protect and conserve the environment; to foster the appropriate development of marketable commodities; to preserve wilderness areas, wildlife habitats, and unique historical sites; and to encourage public participation in land-use and management decisions. There is no consensus, however, on the best ways to establish a balance among the? priorities when serious conflicts arise. This book presents a wide-ranging discussion of the means by which lands and resources administered by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management can better serve present and future needs for environmental preservation and resource development. The contributors consider public and private interests in the federal lands in light of political realities and uncertainties, giving particular: attention to efficiency-versus-equity issues, privatization fair market value, and the income-producing potential of publicly owned assets. Major sections of the book focus on timber, nonfuel minerals, rangelands, and energy resources. Based on a recent conference sponsored by The Wilderness Society, the book reflects the views of conservationists, scholars, industry representatives, and state and federal officials.

Conservation, Economics, and Management of Hunting on Private Land

Conservation, Economics, and Management of Hunting on Private Land PDF Author: Luke Thomas Macaulay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Privately owned land accounts for significant areas of land internationally, nationally, and in California. In the U.S. and elsewhere, private land tends to support high levels of biodiversity because land with more productive natural resources was settled and privatized first. These lands, which are integral to conservation goals, are often the most vulnerable to habitat degradation and loss through changes in land-use and fragmentation. In 1930, Aldo Leopold encouraged the development of an incentive scheme to better conserve private lands in the U.S. where hunters would pay landowners for access to conserved wildlife habitat and game populations that could be sustainably harvested. Although a wide body of literature has discussed this approach, much of the research is either theoretical or limited to particular regions and these studies have rarely tested for an explicit connection to whether conservation is ultimately improved as a result of paid hunting. The goal of this dissertation is to evaluate the economic, conservation and management aspects of hunting on private land internationally, nationally, and in California. The first chapter uses a case study approach to explore the environmental and economic issues surrounding hunting in the context of Spain and California. The study found that increased game management rights in Spain appears to yield improved economic return, but at an environmental cost. The second chapter evaluates the scale, distribution and conservation aspects of spending to access private land for fishing, hunting, and wildlife-watching in the United States. This study found that that approximately 440 million acres of private land, an estimated 22% of the contiguous land area of the U.S. and 33% of all private land in the U.S., are either leased or owned for wildlife-associated recreation. Much of these lands are private rangelands and forestlands. Land utilized for hunting accounted for 81% of that total, while land utilized for fishing and wildlife-watching, although comparatively small, likely includes riparian zones and areas with high environmental or amenity values. Hunters own or lease properties of larger size classes than anglers or wildlife-watchers, providing a possible economic incentive for maintaining large unfragmented properties that provide a variety of conservation benefits. Results show that Americans annually spend an estimated $814 million in day-use fees, $1.48 billion for long-term leases, and $14.8 billion to own private land primarily for wildlife-associated recreation. Hunting, in particular big game hunting, comprises some of the largest contributions to payments for wildlife-associated recreational use on private land. This finding suggests that hunting may be an important market-based mechanism to maintain large unfragmented parcels of wildlife habitat. Chapter 3 utilizes interviews with a random sample of landowners in California to evaluate conservation practices associated with hunting enterprises. This study found relatively low adoption of hunting enterprises among landowners, and that there were mixed conservation outcomes associated with hunting. Landowners who enrolled in the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Private Land Management program, which provides enhanced game management rights to landowners in exchange for habitat improvement practices, performed the most comprehensive habitat improvement practices, including riparian zone restoration and adjustment of grazing practices to enhance cover and forage resources for wildlife. Many other landowners, however, earned some income from hunting, but either did not implement additional conservation practices to enhance wildlife habitat or performed practices that could cause some ecological problems, such as planting of feed crops that can create openings for invasive noxious weeds to be established on a property. This study found significant opportunities in California to not only increase adoption of hunting enterprises, but to engage in educational efforts to encourage ecologically-friendly wildlife management practices as a way to enhance both revenue from hunting enterprises and conservation outcomes. The final chapter focuses on the development of methods to better understand the population characteristics of the Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) in order to improve harvest recommendations. Using camera-traps on a 2,500 acre private ranch in San Benito County, California, the study estimates the density and sex ratios of deer by using a Bayesian spatial mark-resight model. It also evaluates the effect of using bait in developing population estimates. The study found that deer densities on the property are estimated to be 9.9 (SE 0.91) individuals/km2, and that antlered bucks make up only 11% (SE 1%) of the population. Bait increased encounter rates of deer by a factor of 3.7, showing that the use of bait can help reduce the length of time that cameras must be operational and may create more precise population estimates due to increased detectability of deer. In conclusion, this dissertation found the game management rights for hunting were important for economic return from hunting on private land, but without regulation may result in negative environmental impacts. Across the United States, hunting contributes significantly to landowner income, especially to properties of larger size classes in rangeland and forestry habitats, which suggests that hunting provides an economic incentive to maintain large unfragmented properties. In the context of California, programs that give landowners greater game management rights in exchange for habitat improvement practices resulted in benefits for landowners and the environment. Finally, this dissertation has developed a statistical model that can be utilized to evaluate population parameters for one of the most economically important game species in California. In sum, recreational hunting can provide income to the private landowner and with the appropriate regulations, education and management, can incentivize the enhancement and maintenance of wildlife habitat on private land.

Land Conservation Through Public/Private Partnerships

Land Conservation Through Public/Private Partnerships PDF Author: Eve Endicott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Land Conservation Through Public/Private Partnerships demonstrates the broad array of circumstances under which cooperation between the public and private sectors can significantly improve land conservation efforts. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the preservation of our rapidly diminishing open landscapes.

Saving Species on Private Lands

Saving Species on Private Lands PDF Author: Lowell E. Baier
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538139391
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
Winner, Independent Press Award - Conservation/Green, 2021 The only hope for successful conservation of America’s threatened, endangered, and at-risk wildlife is through voluntary, cooperative partnerships that focus on private land, where over 75% of at-risk species can be found. Private landowners form the bedrock of these partnerships, and they have a long history of rising to meet the challenge of conservation. But they can’t do it alone. This book is a guide for private landowners who want to conserve wildlife. Whether engaged in farming, ranching, forestry, mining, energy development, or another business, private working lands all have value as wildlife habitat, with the proper management and financial support. This book provides landowners and their partners with a roadmap to achieve conservation compatible with their financial and personal goals. This book introduces the art and language of land management planning as well as regulatory compliance with laws such as the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It categorizes and explains the tools used by wildlife professionals to implement conservation on private lands. Moreover it documents the multitude of federal, state, local, and private opportunities for landowners to find financial and technical assistance in managing wildlife, from working with a local NGO to accessing the $6 billion per year available through the federal Farm Bill.

Dealing in Diversity

Dealing in Diversity PDF Author: Victoria M. Edwards
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521465672
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
An analysis of the role of the private sector in conservation in the United States.

The Conservation Program Handbook

The Conservation Program Handbook PDF Author: Sandra Tassel
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610911296
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Between 1996 and 2007, voters approved almost $24 billion for local government park, open space, and other conservation purposes. Despite this substantial sum for land protection, there was at that time no book available to guide officials as they implemented voters’ mandates. The Conservation Program Handbook was written in response to numerous requests to The Trust for Public Land for exactly this type of guidance from community leaders who wanted to know how to effectively conserve their iconic landscapes. In addition, in November 2008, despite massive doses of terrible financial news, voters across the U.S. approved land conservation funding measures. It was a record-breaking year for land protection financing, with voters demonstrating substantial support for open space ballot measures despite the economic and fiscal crisis of the time. The Conservation Program Handbook is a manual that provides all of the information—on a broad spectrum of topics—that conservation professionals are likely to encounter. It compiles and distills advice from professionals based on successful conservation efforts across the country, including a list of “best practices” for the most critical issues conservationists can expect to face. By providing information on how to do conservation work in the best possible manner, The Conservation Program Handbook has the goal of increasing the amount, quality, and pace of conservation being achieved by local governments throughout the nation.

Protecting the Land

Protecting the Land PDF Author: Julie Ann Gustanski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a property owner and a conservation organization, generally a private nonprofit land trust, that restricts the type and amount of development that can be undertaken on that property. Conservation easements protect land for future generations while allowing owners to retain property rights, at the same time providing them with significant tax benefits. Conservation easements are among the fastest growing methods of land preservation in the United States today. Protecting the Land provides a thoughtful examination of land trusts and how they function, and a comprehensive look at the past and future of conservation easements. The book: provides a geographical and historical overview of the role of conservation easements analyzes relevant legislation and its role in achieving community conservation goals examines innovative ways in which conservation easements have been used around the country considers the links between social and economic values and land conservation Contributors, including noted tax attorney and land preservation expert Stephen Small, Colorado's leading land preservation attorney Bill Silberstein, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust's general counsel Karin Marchetti, describe and analyze the present status of easement law. Sharing their unique perspectives, experts including author and professor of geography Jack Wright, Dennis Collins of the Wildlands Conservancy, and Chuck Roe of the Conservation Trust of North Carolina offer case studies that demonstrate the flexibility and diversity of conservation easements. Protecting the Land offers a valuable overview of the history and use of conservation easements and the evolution of easement-enabling legislation for professionals and citizens working with local and national land trusts, legal advisors, planners, public officials, natural resource mangers, policymakers, and students of planning and conservation.

Downsizing the Federal Government

Downsizing the Federal Government PDF Author: Chris Edwards
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1933995513
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
The federal government is running huge budget deficits, spending too much, and heading toward a financial crisis. Federal spending soared under President George W. Bush, and the costs of programs for the elderly are set to balloon in coming years. Hurricane Katrina has made the federal budget situation even more desperate. In Downsizing the Federal Government Cato Institute budget expert Chris Edwards provides policymakers with solutions to the growing federal budget mess. Edwards identifies more than 100 federal programs that should be terminated, transferred to the states, or privatized in order to balance the budget and save hundreds of billions of dollars. Edwards proposes a balanced reform package of cuts to entitlements, domestic programs, and excess defense spending. He argues that these cuts would not only eliminate the deficit, but also strengthen the economy, enlarge personal freedom, and leave a positive fiscal legacy for the next generation. Downsizing the Federal Government discusses the systematic causes of wasteful spending, and it overflows with examples of federal programs that are obsolete and mismanaged. The book examines the budget process and shows how policymakers act contrary to the interests of average Americans by favoring special interests.

Economics and Contemporary Land Use Policy

Economics and Contemporary Land Use Policy PDF Author: Robert J. Johnston
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136523618
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
As external forces increase the demand for land conversion, communities are increasingly open to policies that encourage conservation of farm and forest lands. This interest in conservation notwithstanding, the consequences of land-use policy and the drivers of land conversions are often unclear. One of the first books to deal exclusively with the economics of rural-urban sprawl, Economics and Contemporary Land-Use Policy explores the causes and consequences of rapidly accelerating land conversions in urban-fringe areas, as well as implications for effective policy responses. This book emphasizes the critical role of both spatial and economic-ecological interactions in contemporary land use, and the importance of a practical, policy-oriented perspective. Chapters illustrate an interaction of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical approaches to land-use policy and highlight advances in policy-oriented economics associated with the conservation and development of urban-fringe land. Issues addressed include (1) the appropriate role of economics in land-use policy, (2) forecasting and management of land conversion, (3) interactions among land use, property values, and local taxes, and (4) relationships among rural amenities, rural character, and urban-fringe land-use policy. Economics and Contemporary Land-Use Policy is a timely and relevant contribution to the land-use policy debate and will prove an essential reference for policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels. It will also be of interest to students, academics, and anyone with an interest in the practical application of economics to land-use issues.